Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth emphatically denied that the change is a move towards photo radar. He said the change requires a hardware upgrade to the existing cameras, and data collection to measure the problem of people speeding to get through a light that is changing to red.

Once that study is complete, the intersection camera system will be able to issue speeding tickets as well as those for running a red light, Farnworth said. A threshold of excessive speeding will be chosen to trigger the additional ticket, he said.

“What we’re concerned about is people who go through red lights,” Farnworth said. “I’ve been up to an intersection many times and the light will turn yellow, and then one, two, sometimes three cars will go through, and they’re going through the red light.

“And we know that’s where the worst accidents happen, at intersections. That’s where pedestrians get hit far too often.”

The photo radar program ended in 2001 and the province said that the unmarked vans, staffed with two police officers each, issued speeding tickets at “low speeding thresholds” and used up too many police resources.

Four other provinces already use red light cameras: Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Quebec.

An Ernst & Young report released last summer said that activating more red light cameras to catch speeders could save ICBC $3 million.

Expanding the program to 240 cameras would net savings of $13.5 million and enabling the cameras to catch those speeding through green lights could save $89 million.